Masquerade
by Eurofighter
Summary: Alice harbours a secret crush for Bella, and one night, under the influence of alcohol, makes a move. Bella seems to reciprocate, but then disappears the following morning. Alice fears she has scared her away, but could it be anything more sinister?
1. Chapter 1

So, I'm writing fanfiction again. Not entirely sure where I'm going with this. Please review, each one brings me one step closer to continuing the story; it takes willpower to write (which I lack), and I feed on the attention. And, no, the chapters won't always be this short.

Title: Masquerade  
Fandom: Twilight  
Genre: Drama/Romance  
Pairing: Alice/Bella

Synopsis: Alice and Bella are students. They attend the same college, and are flatmates. Alice harbours a secret crush for Bella, and one night, under the influence of perhaps just too much alcohol, makes a move. Bella, though tipsy too, seems to reciprocate, but then disappears the following morning. Alice fears she has scared her away, but could it be anything more sinister?

**1**

Alice woke alone in bed. She raised herself up on her elbows and looked about, still groggy. "Bella?"

Silence filled her ears, the stillness in their small apartment unsettling. Bella was gone.

Alice slipped from under silk sheets and found herself naked. _Maybe I had a little more to drink last night that I thought_, she thought, and put on her dressing gown.

She looked about for a note and found none, and began to panic. Questions filled her head. _Where has Bella gone? Why? Did I scare her away? Did I push her too far? But that kiss..., _Alice thought, and sighed, her heart fluttering. Last night, though under the copious influence of alcohol, Alice reluctantly ceded, the attraction had seemed mutual.

She found her phone and dialed Bella's mobile. It went straight to voicemail, so she tried her home number. Alice gave up after the tenth ring. _At least she hasn't gone home._ The idea brightened Alice's mood only momentarily as she went to the kitchen. _Or maybe she just isn't answering her phone... could things really be that bad?_ She took a carton of juice from the fridge and noticed they had no milk. _Maybe she just went down to the store?_ After all, Bella always ate cereal for breakfast. Alice hoped the answer was quite so mundane, yet knew she was clutching at straws.

She chugged her glass of orange juice and decided to go see. Alice dressed quickly in a T-shirt and jeans, pausing at the dresser to pull a brush through her pitch black hair. Naturally spiky, it still looked fashionably dishevelled. She grabbed her set of keys from the top, noticing Bella's phone was still there, turned off. This leant weight to the just-popped-out-would-be-back-soon idea, Alice decided, thankful.

She was halfway to the local store by the time she realised it was still chilly out, and that she should have worn a jacket. Grateful it was only a two minute walk, she persisted on, soon turning the bend at the end of the street to see...

Two police cars and an ambulance, lights still flashing but sirens off, bathing the shopfront in blue then red, parked up across the way. Alice rushed to the officer that stood outside, talking into his radio. As she crossed the street she noticed, to her horror, that the shop window was shattered by what looked to be multiple gunshots.

"What happened!" she cried, panting, out of breath, interrupting the officer's report. He held up a hand, finished, and then turned to her.

"I'm going to have to ask you to move along, Ma'am."

"I think- I think my-" What was Bella to her now? "...my flatmate," Alice decided upon, the officer noticing her pause, "may be inside!"

"Are you able to provide a description of this individual?"

"My age, a little taller, long auburn hair, very-" Alice stopped herself from gushing needless information. The officer didn't need to know she had it bad.

"Yes, the shopkeeper described a similar individual as being-"

"Where is she!" exclaimed Alice, pushing past the officer, surprising him.

"You better talk to the shopkeeper. He's sitting in the ambulance, recovering," he replied. "Don't go in the shop; it's a crime scene, and mind all the broken glass." The young woman was clearly harmless.

Alice nodded, smiling back at him, grateful.

The shopkeeper was sitting, as promised, on the floor of the ambulance, his legs dangling over the edge. Two officers flanked him, just finished taking a statement.

Alice rushed over "Have you seen my flatmate? Same age, auburn hair?"

The man looked at her for a moment and nodded. He was clearly still in shock. "Yes..."

"What happened, please tell me!"

"I- I was serving your friend, she was buying some milk, and a man entered the shop wearing a black ski mask, and pulled a gun on us. He shouted for me to get cash from the till..."

"Please, go on."

"I started to pull all the notes from the till, and the girl tried talking him down, calming him, but a man, young, blond haired, came into the shop and surprised him, and he shot the girl-"

"He _shot_ her!" Alice exclaimed, horrified. "Where is she? Has she been taken to hospital?" She looked to the officers that had taken the man's statement.

"We don't know where she is. We've got units searching the area."

"What? How can you not know?"

The shopkeeper continued, seemingly unaware of the exchange that had taken place.

"The man... he moved... so fast... knocked the gun from the man's hand, hit him- sent him... flying, into a shelf, toppling it. Then he ran to the girl, told her she was going to be fine, that he was a doctor. I was just recovering, about to thank him when he picked her up and ran from the shop."

"Bella has been abducted... by the man who got her _shot!"_ Alice screeched at the officers.

"Please, Ma'am, we've got people searching. It only happened half an hour ago, so we're hopeful we'll find her."

"You better, or- I'll- I'll..." Alice didn't know what she'd do.


	2. Chapter 2

And here's the next chapter... please review folks, just a few words, and the next instalment comes faster for your trouble.

Title: Masquerade  
Fandom: Twilight  
Genre: Drama/Romance  
Pairing: Alice/Bella

Synopsis: Alice and Bella are students. They attend the same college, and are flatmates. Alice harbours a secret crush for Bella, and one night, under the influence of perhaps just too much alcohol, makes a move. Bella, though tipsy too, seems to reciprocate, but then disappears the following morning. Alice fears she has scared her away, but could it be anything more sinister?

**2**

_Alice looked sidelong at Bella, sat cross-legged next to her on the hardwood floor of their apartment, downed another shot of vodka, and giggled at nothing in particular. She tried to turn back to face the TV, and instead fell sideways into Bella's lap._

_She looked up into Bella's eyes, hesitant and surprised, as Bella smirked down at her, and didn't push her away._

"_I think you've had a little too much to drink," commented Bella, still smiling a condescending smile. She took a much more conservative sip from her glass._

"_No... way. Not yet," replied Alice, trying not to slur her words, and failing._

"_It's a wonder someone so tiny can drink so much and still remain conscious."_

"_I'm not so small," said Alica, indignant, and made a huffing sound, pouting. She tried to right herself, and failed, slipping further into Bella._

_On the TV was a gooey romantic comedy; Alice's choice, and as their eyes met for a second time, a lovey-dovey moment was just reaching it's conclusion. Bella saw the light from the TV sparkle in Alice's now wide eyes. She didn't know whether it was the alcohol in her blood, or the mushy, over-acted romance playing out on screen, or the sheer attraction she felt, very occasionally, at girly times like these, but she bent down to kiss Alice very briefly on the lips._

_Bella pulled away with a smile on her face, pleased with herself, until she saw Alice's shocked expression; like a deer frozen in headlights._

"_Bella..," said Alice, wistfully, eventually, slipping out of Bella's lap. And then she was beside Bella, kneeling. And then they were kissing, Alice leading, her lips hard against Bella's. The kiss was fierce until Bella broke away to stand, pulling Alice upright roughly with her._

_They tumbled backward, searching blindly for the doorway to the bedroom, never once thereafter parting their lips or bodies; Alice's smaller frame curled into Bella's arms. Bella fell back onto her bed, pulling Alice on top of her. Moments later her tank top was off, bundled in Alice's dainty hands and thrown away across the room. And then Alice was unfastening her bra, cupping her breast, and kissing her chest. Bella tugged at Alice's shirt, at last unbuttoning it, pulling Alice's arms back behind her in order to cast off her top, baring her flesh._

_Alice was back, crushing her lips against Bella's, drunkenly missing and kissing her nose on the first attempt. Bella tried with busy hands to find the clasp on Alice's belt, and had her jeans halfway down her legs in moments. She slid her leg up, slipping it between Alice's, and Alice let out a low moan of longing, and..._

…woke, alone again. Alice moaned a second time, this time grumpy she'd woken from the dream just as it got to the best part. _Was it just a dream? _thought Alice, hopeful it wasn't just. Alice didn't remember much from the last time she'd seen Bella, even now. All she was sure of was that she missed her, terribly. It had been a month, and the police had found nothing. Her hope for news grew slimmer each passing day.

Alice showered, dressed, had breakfast, and was about to leave for college. Her keys weren't in the usual place; not on the kitchen top, so she looked about and found them on the dresser, on top of a sheet of paper. Curious, and more than a little concerned someone might have been in the apartment while she slept, she pocketed her keys quickly and picked up the note. With a shock, she recognised Bella's handwriting at once. Delight in Bella's survival soon gave way to more melancholic feelings as she read on.

_Alice,_

_I'm sorry I disappeared. I meant to come back, but something happened. Something I can't take back. Please don't come looking for me, and please, please don't tell anyone I sent you this letter. I'm not in any danger, I promise. Please trust me. I just can't come back, no matter how much I might want to._

_Bella._

Alice began to hyperventilate. She had to sit down, and did so on her bed. _Bella's alive!_ _But... she's... not coming back..._

And then the pain came, at first a twinge beneath her temples, then quickly more defined; a headache, unfurling itself against her mind. _Not this, _thought Alice, _not again._

_She wasn't seeing her bedroom any longer, but instead another room; an office perhaps, it had a desk and chair, and another chair opposite... where someone sat... a young woman... with auburn hair... but, the vision was blurred, unclear. Alice struggled to see, straining herself. The pain in her head built and built, stronger than ever, like the vision was too much for her merely human brain to contain. She'd never tried to see before, to clear the image, always refusing it, pushing it away and denying it instead... but, this was Bella. She was sure._

_And the vision became clearer, and it was Bella... Bella, but... different. She was more pale, if ever that were possible. White as snow, and just as beautiful... more so now than ever before, if that were possible. It brought a tear to Alice's unseeing eyes, to be separate from her as Bella was now; she wanted so much to reach out and touch her, to kiss those icy lips, to make the vision real... but when she saw the eyes... Bella's eyes, no longer their rich, chocolaty brown, but a deep, crimson red, Alice was afraid. Afraid of... Bella._

_The door opened, and a man entered. A young man, very handsome, with short blond hair. Alice gasped; this looked to be the man who had abducted Bella. He crossed the room to sit, and Alice noticed his clothes, his white coat, and then assumed he was a doctor, and that this was in a clinic; in a room for appointments. The man smiled a pained smile at Bella, and Bella stared back blankly. Alice saw then the lines of reflexive need etched around Bella's eyes, as if in stone._

_The doctor handed her something, something red. Alice looked closer, and to her horror, saw a blood pack in the doctor's hands; the kind she'd seen in hospital dramas, used for blood transfusions. Bella grabbed at it, tore it from his hand, and brought it straight to her lips, biting into it. She drank, frenzied, sucking it dry in moments leaving only a bloody red residue remaining in the empty plastic pack._

_The doctor was on his feet, holding his hands out, flat, palms down toward Bella, as if to calm her. To show her that he was no threat. Bella threw the empty pouch aside, bursting out of her chair as if to fight, pausing only millimetres from the doctor._

"_More," she said, in Bella's voice still, but changed, made deliciously musical, and airy._

And the vision finished, and Alice was lying on her bed, exhausted and shivering, the throbbing under her temples only a memory of the prior pain.

Alice lay there, awake, but exhausted, all day, missing classes. It took her all the while to process what she had seen; shocking and gruesome, like her own personal horror movie, and it had lasted less than five minutes. Eventually she fell into a light and uneasy sleep, having nightmares full of blood red eyes and their newly changed and frightening owner.

When she woke, of three things she was absolutely certain: one; Bella had changed, precisely to what Alice wasn't sure, but that it was something sinister nonetheless, two; that she still loved Bella, and would no matter what she had become, and finally; that she wouldn't be able to rest until she found Bella, and told her as such.

And Alice had a plan to find her: she'd seen a clinic, so she'd poster the street of every clinic in the city with 'Missing' notices until someone saw Bella, and told her where she was hiding, and she'd start first thing in the morning.


End file.
